Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1887-1890, 1887-05-28
COAL ABUNDANT.
Excellent Fuel in Belt Creek and
Near Milk River.

/ Fort BENTON, May 25.-The Rioe
Press says that IL. J. Wackerlin & Go
have received from Mr.. Millard of th.
Belt creek coal mines a sample lot O.
most excellent looking coke, which the,
propose to put to a practical test to deter
mine its quality. 1t seems to possess all
the requisites OF a first-class article The
Belt mines can, when required, turn ou1
any quantity Of this desirable and neees
sary fuel, and is one of the many mines Oh
the same character that surrounds Benton
on all sides.
The Rsser Press has sample of the
coal taken from Black coulee, On Milk
river, near Assinaboine. This is the coal
which will be supplied to that post in the
future instead of wood, the quartermaster
| having advertised for 920 tons to be de-
livered there this summer One of the
| officers of the post, speaking of the diff
| ferent tests to which it was put before it
was determined to accept it for fuel, says
| that a large coal stove was filled with it
| and kept red hot for tWenty-fou hours,
and the fire then allowed to die out Not
| a ''clinaer" or piece of Stag was found :;
| there was only ashes left. The coal burn
| ed freely all the while and produced an in
tense heat. 1t has the appearance of first
class camel coal, showing a hard polished
surface, is light, and can be handled with
white kid gloves without soiling them.
In brief talk this morning Mr. Thomas
O'Hanlon, gentleman of intelligence and
extended information who has been in
charge of T. c. Power & Bros business at
Fort Belknap agency for the last fourteen
or fifteen years, and who is more thorough
ly familiar with the Milk river country
than any gentleman in northern Montana,
stated that for fifty square miles around
Fort Belknap coal can be found in almost
every coulee; that for years people have
been using it for fuel and have found it
irst-class article for all purposes. At the
agency blacksmith shop it has been used
successfully for all kinds of iron and steel
work; for welding the finest iron and
steel it is not excelled by the best Penn
sylvania coal. They simply uncovered
one of the many spots where the great
vein comes to the surface; removing the
soil and using only the surface article. |
Nodevelopment of consequence has been
made. The vein is from two and half |
to five feet thick. The coal varies in
quality, the bulk Of it being similar to that |
found at the Renowned I4ethbridge and |
Banff mines of Sir Alexander T. Gait in |
the Northwest territory In the center |
of the vein has been found a genuine |
camel coal that can be lighted with a |
match and will burn like a candle Testi- |
mony from such a source as this needs no I
comment.
In talking with some old-timers yester-
day we were told that near the 24-Mile
Springs, on Lonesome prairie, vein of
coal crops out in coulee. It is exactly
the same kind of coal as that found near
Assinaboine, and on Milk river in various
places. One of the party said that on one
occasion, while camped near there years
ago, being short of wood, he used the coal
for cooking and heating, and it burned
freely in the open air.
On Bdrch creek, near Dupuyer, a vein
Of excellent coal, similar to the Belt creek
article, is exposed. The coal is used at
Dupuyer and throughout that section for
domestic purposes and gives great salts
faction. There is no shaft or tunnel on
.he mine. It is simply dug from the sur
lace where the vein crops out.